AKRON – Healthy and playing the best they have all season, the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings head into this week’s Class 3A sectional at NorthWood High School with some momentum. After winning just five of their first 16 games, the Vikings have won five of their past six, including four in a row. Valley’s tournament road begins Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. against Wawasee, a team the Vikings beat 53-35 in Friday’s regular-season finale. “We’re playing well now,” said Hall of Fame coach Bill Patrick. “It’s taken a while to get there, but we’re finally healthy and playing well. If you go back the last month or so, the only game we haven’t played well in was the first half of the Fairfield game.” Valley lost 49-35 to Fairfield on Dec. 29 in a holiday tournament in Rochester. If the Vikings win Tuesday, they will play Fairfield at 7:30 p.m. in Friday’s second Sectional 21 semifinal. Action at NorthWood gets underway Tuesday at 6 p.m. when West Noble plays the host Panthers, who are heavily favored with their 20-2 record and No. 2 ranking in the state poll. The winner of the West Noble/NorthWood game plays Lakeland Friday at 6 p.m. The championship is slated for Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with the winner advancing to the Marion Regional to play the winner from the New Haven Sectional. “If you look at the sectional, NorthWood is in a class by itself,” said Patrick, who is trying to guide the Vikings to their first sectional title since 2013. “The other five teams in the sectional are even. Any of the other five teams could beat each other on a given night. There’s five teams that are even, and one that’s better than the other five. “The good thing about the tournament in Indiana, you only have to beat that good team once. And in the tournament, anything can happen.” NorthWood, looking for its third-straight sectional title, takes a 20-2 record into the sectional, while Fairfield is 13-9. Valley, West Noble, Lakeland and Wawasee all have losing records and have all lost at least 12 games. Tuesday’s matchup marks the fourth consecutive year, and the fifth time in the last six seasons, the Vikings have opened tournament action against Wawasee after playing the Warriors in the final game of the regular season. It’s not something Patrick is thrilled about, and for good reason. A year ago, Valley beat Wawasee 63-49 in the regular-season finale, but fell 50-39 in postseason play. “I don’t really see an advantage to it at all,” said Patrick. “You know them well enough, so you don’t scout them the second time ... that’s probably more of a disadvantage than anything. “We were in different sectionals when we started scheduling them in the regular season. I doubt Wawasee likes it anymore than we do. Our girls teams have done it too.” The Vikings, who have won six of their last seven meetings with Wawasee, are led by a pair of double-figure scorers in junior Alec Craig and senior Neil Clampitt. Craig scores 13 points per game and also leads the team in assists with four per game, while Clampitt scores 12 points per game. Junior Jarod Duzenbery chips in with eight points per game, while senior Gavin Bussard averages seven points, and seniors Brandon Webster and Trevory Neeley average five each. “We’re getting a little more scoring than we were early in the season,” said Patrick. “We were struggling to score points early in the season. Our offense has gotten better, and so has our defense. It’s also helped that we’re healthy now.”
